After some thought, Verishka decided that Paris would be her new home. She had never been there and adored the culture and language.
To keep her mind off of a certain vampire she kept busy and took walks at night, attended operas and enjoyed her way of life.
However it was on a night as any other in 1888 that an old ghost from her past would start to haunt her once again. On one of her many walks, Verishka suddenly heard a scream from the direction of Notre Dame. Although she was in no mood to play vampire-hero, she was curious, and began to make her way towards the ancient structure.
Upon entering she knew what had caused the scream. It was Dr. Jackel, or Mr. Hide as he now was known as. He had been reeking havoc on the town for the past several nights. However she picked up another heartbeat as well, this one more steady. As she was about to investigate the other heartbeat, she heard a thud behind her, and turned to see a man in a large coast. But what truly shocked her was that it was Van Helsing. The man that had killed Dracula over four hundred years ago. The man that should have long since be dead.
"Miss can I help you?" he asked.
"Gabriel, how are you... what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Do I know you?" he asked, confused.
"It's me, Verishka Drac... I mean Verishka Gabor," she said.
"Well Miss Gabor, you really shouldn't be here, with Dr. Jackel around," he said.
Verishka was about to respond when Mr. Hide came out from behind a pillar and grabbed Van Helsing. Realizing that he was probably still with the Holy Order, Verishka decided to watch from a distance while he finished off Mr. Hide, remembering that he was still her enemy.
When his deed was done, Verishka followed him through the night as he left Paris and made his way to Rome. She still could not understand how he could still be alive. But perhaps by following him she could gain some answers. By the time he reached Rome, the sun had risen and Verishka was forced to follow only in the shadows. He entered the church in which Verishka happened to know that the Holy Order was hidden under. Although she hated religion, she entered the church and followed, happy to be out of the sun.
She hid in a shadow near an entrance where she could easily watch and listen to what Van Helsing was saying. Many of the men working went past her, yet still she went unnoticed. A Cardinal began to give him instructions, most of which Verishka found insignificant, until she heard Transylvania mentioned. As she listened she realized when an extremely old portrait of she and Dracula was shown that he was being instructed to kill them. Van Helsing luckily didn't recognize her portrait from before since it was done when she was alive. In addition, it had been dark in the church. However, that didn't make the fact that she was listening to someone be told to murder her any less awkward. Still, looking back on the ancient feud between Dracula and Van Helsing, she supposed that it was only right that they had one last battle to end it all.
She had stayed so well hidden from Van Helsing up to now, she did not fear that he would be able to kill her. And at that moment, he didn't even know her secret. However, the part of her that feared for Dracula's life was over powered by the part of her that wanted fate to take its course. She and Dracula weren't making any progress anyway. That was her decision, she would watch the battle from a distance but not interfere. If Dracula was destined to die, then so be it.
When Van Helsing was finished being briefed on the situation, Verishka began to follow him, and his friend Friar Carl on their journey to Transylvania. For the first time in over three hundred years she would be returning to her homeland. It truly was a cursed land, nonetheless it was her home, so naturally she was willing to travel into the land of shadows and demons to get another chance to see it.
The journey there was agonizingly slow as Verishka was forced to go at Van Helsing's pace. He came very close to discovering her on several occasions, however she was always one step ahead of him.
He arrived during the day and a rather cloudy one at that, so she was able to stay out in the open. Naturally his first stop was Vaseria. From the town, Verishka was able to see the very palace that she and Dracula had lived in. Valerious manor. As she was remembering her forgotten land, she suddenly noticed, Van Helsing was talking to Anna Valerious. 'So the Valerious line did survive,' she thought to herself. Which meant none of the family members since Dracula's father had been given salvation. That was the deal. When Dracula and she are dead, the entire Valerious line receives eternal salvation. Obviously, that was yet to happen.
Suddenly screams could be heard as Verishka sensed the presence of three young vampires. They were all teenagers, one girl and two boys. While two of them terrorized the town, the third one was going after Anna. Dracula had placed a bounty on the head of the last Valerious since the death of her brother Velkan. These three kids had their eyes on whatever prize Dracula was offering.
After a long battle which consisted of Van Helsing firing thousands of silver arrows, that he finally coated in Holy water and brought an end to the three. The village seemed fairly pleased and Verishka did not follow as he was led to the home of Anna Valerious: Valerious manor.
The sun set soon after that and Verishka decided it was time to see what Dracula was up to. For once, she would be the one to "drop in" and see what he was doing. She found that he was in a castle not far from Vaseria. It was near the forrest and the river. From the many maps she had looked at, she knew that it was Castle Frankenstein. Once belonging to an eccentric scientist who had no doubt just become one of the thousands of people who had fallen victim to Dracula's bloodlust.
Upon entering through a window, Verishka quickly made her way down one of the many halls until she came to a room with a high ceiling and dwergis' everywhere. She had been there the day the dwergi came, obviously a gift from Satan. They were extremely loyal, however Verishka still wasn't exactly sure what they were. The room was filled with wires and pressure readers everywhere. The dwergi were also everywhere, connecting wires, throwing switches, and Dracula's voice could be heard as he started talking to a werewolf lying on a table.
"But I'm hoping, with werewolf venom running through your veins, you will be of better benefit!" he hissed as the werewolf was hoisted up and his screams could be heard everywhere. In one swift movement that the human eye could never see, Verishka was behind Dracula.
"Surprised to see me?" she asked.
"Never dear," he said, not turning around.
"How disappointing," she said playfully.
"Decided to pay a visit to your home of so long ago?" he asked, turning to face her.
"I followed Van Helsing here," she said, honestly.
"How romantic," Dracula sighed.
"He doesn't remember anything Dracula, not you nor me. But how has he lived?" she asked.
"He is the left hand of God my dear, the iron fist of the Holy Order, why shouldn't he be alive? Still, you have more questions," he said.
"Yes, I never knew science was your area of expertise," she said.
"I find science very interesting Verishka, even more now that it is serving me the way it is now," he said, edging closer to her.
"Ahh, I see. I always saw you as a man of literature and art," she said.
"Yes well, I still have it in me to surprise you. Now I have a question. I assume you're here to watch fate play out, and witness the battle that you missed so long ago," he said.
"Damn that battle Dracula. Damn it to hell and let it be forever remembered as the day your soul left this earth," she said, over the roar of the machines. Dracula finally stepped forward and embraced her lovingly.
"There there, no use dwelling on the past," he said. He then paused a moment, as if thinking how to phrase his next statement, then spoke, "I need to go, my children shall be awakening soon but, would you like to come, perhaps show them how to feed?"
"Children?" she almost gasped.
"Yes, you may have killed my brides, but I was still left with the children that they gave me before," he explained.
"But how are they awake?" she asked.
"Again my dear, science. You know, it's a shame that you and I never had children. We could now see them alive together," he said, assuming her knowledge of his children's dead state was from vampire gossip.
"We had one," she said, slightly shaking and almost revealing a secret that she planned to take with her to her grave.
"For ten weeks my dear. That barely counts as life. Can we not just bury that piece of our past?" he inquired.
"I can't let it go Dracula. Not when there was life inside of me," she said.
"On that note I should get going. Will you be joining me?" he asked.
"I'm sorry no. The way to charm a woman is not by asking her to care for your children by another woman," she sighed.
"I suppose you're right. Still, do what you will in this battle, and welcome home Verishka," he said, then walking out of the room.
Verishka, as Dracula had just called her for one of the few times in her life, barely made it out of the castle alive. Her entire life she had attempted to show decorum, and never seem surprised or disturbed by anything. However nothing could have prepared her for the news that Dracula had children that weren't hers, let alone thousands of them. From what Verona had said, she could assume that Dracula had probably mated with each of them several times.
However her shock needed to be pushed aside for the moment. With Van Helsing now aware of Dracula's location, she knew it was only a matter of time before the battle began. For the good of the world though, Verishka knew she could do nothing to affect its outcome, even if that meant allowing Dracula to die, when she could save him.